Dear David Griffith,

Thanks for your response to my query on the Pound Listserv. Please 
forgive this tardy reply, but I've been away.

Your suggestion is worth some thought. Pound knew the Italian Alpine 
region fairly well due to the proximity of his long residence in Rapallo 
and his daughter Mary being brought up in Gais. I have not had time yet 
to track down info on the Selassi people. Could you possibly inform me 
of a source to facilitate this?

But beyond this specific, your suggestion opens up another view I hadn't 
thought of. Pound wrote that the source of /La canzone de li ucelli 
/[sic] was out of  "...god knows what 'hidden antiquity' ". I'll mull 
over, once I search out a little more info on the region (and the 
ancient people you mention), a possible connection between the "Selassi" 
and  the birdsong might emerge.

Thanks for the help, and any further you might offer . . .

Cordially  -  Bob Hughes

David Griffith wrote:
> I have suspected that the reference was to the Salassi -- a people of 
> the Italian Alpine region who were subjugated by Augustus.  Perhaps, 
> given the association of the music with bird songs, the reference is 
> to the geographic region rather than the historic Salassi themselves?
>
> This is just a thought; I don't know of any documentation or 
> references to support it.
>
> Hope this helps!
> David Griffith
>
> On Jun 13, 2009, at 4:26 AM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
>> Greetings to members of the Listserv,
>>
>> Starting at the small handwritten notations just above the music in
>> Canto LXXV one reads the phrase "(Sidelights from Selassi;".While it is
>> tempting to associate a meaning with Haile Selassi(e), Emperor of
>> Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, an interpretation in that direction seems
>> awfully broad for a Canto that is so full of particulars. Also, the name
>> is followed by a semicolon which leads into details concerning the
>> music. The invasion of Ethiopia was late 1935 and the music had already
>> been performed on Pound's concert series in Rapallo. Ellen Keck Stauder
>> gives a well reasoned analysis of the hand on p.272 of her excellent
>> article on Canto 75 in the Bacigalupo/Pratt _Ezra Pound, Language and
>> Persona_. Can anyone account for the spelling of 'ucelli' with only one
>> 'c' or whose hand this is? If Munch, he would have known the Canto's
>> /manuscript/ information from Pound's pre-concert presentations, both
>> vocal and in print.
>>
>> Any interpretations concerning this Canto, and particularly the
>> "Sidelights from Selassi;" would be very much appreciated.
>>
>> Robert Hughes
>